Covfefe Chronicles | Ep. 11 – White Cities with Higher Crime Than DC

One month after sending National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump has broadened his “crime emergency” crackdown into a national campaign, threatening to deploy federal forces to a string of Democratic-run cities he casts as violent and out of control. Chicago, Baltimore, and New York have all been named as possible next targets. The threats are part of a broader law-and-order push that critics say is less about crime than political theater. FBI data shows violent crime is falling in many of the majority-Black and Brown cities Trump targets. The pattern, analysts argue, reflects how Trump’s reelection strategy leans on racial scapegoating: turning urban centers into campaign props while ignoring the white communities where Americans are statistically more likely to face violence. The playbook is familiar. From stoking fears of immigrant “invasions” to resurrecting rhetoric about Black children being “born criminals,” Trump has repeatedly weaponized crime narratives to rally his base, even when the facts contradict the alarm. By militarizing Black and Brown cities while ignoring higher crime rates in white communities, he is reprising a long tradition of American politics where racialized fear justifies surveillance, punishment, and authoritarian spectacle in the name of safety.